Zeppelin originals Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones were in attendance. Ann (lead vocals) and Nancy Wilson would be backed by a gospel choir with Jason Bonham on drums (son of the late Zeppelin drummer and John Bonham).

But the rendition definitely proved to be all right on the night, receiving terrific plaudits and reportedly rendering Plant very emotional. A few hours later Heart had a reason to get emotional. Ann and Nancy Wilson learned their group was to be inducted into the 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Heart has definitely been in circulation recently. Back in October, the group released its 14th studio album, “Fanatic,” and has a national tour going on right now, which will take the group to The Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts for a show at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

There has also been a recent memoir by the sisters (“Kicking & Dreaming”) and a box set. “We've just flooded the market,” Nancy Wilson said during a recent telephone interview.

Although the band dates back to the early and mid-1970s, Wilson said, “We're better live now. We're better at it.” They live better, too, she said. “When you're young, you're ignorant about how to stay healthy.”

Ann Wilson has acknowledged past problems with alcohol and cocaine but has been sober for a while. In “Fanatic” she “gathered her sobriety from a few years now into a more incredible singer than she's ever been before,” her sister said.

“I haven't listened to all our albums in a long time, but I think it ('Fanatic') could be our best album.”

“Stairway To Heaven” from the “Led Zeppelin IV” album was an influential track that got the hearts of many a band beating. Was that true for Heart? “Oh absolutely, it was right when we were trying to form ourselves,” Wilson said when asked if the song was an influence in any way. “It was like, 'Where were you when you first heard it on the radio?' ”

The Wilson sisters are the mainstays of Heart, a rock band that — like most others — has had its palpitations (including in-band relationships and break-ups) over the years. Ann and Nancy Wilson's father was a Marine Corps colonel and the family traveled a lot before settling in Seattle. How Heart got kicking is a rather complicated story, but by the latter part of the 1970s the hits were coming — “Magic Man” (1976), “Barracuda” (1977), “Straight On” (1978), and “Tell It Like It Is” (1980).

Heart has been eligible for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for more than 10 years, but its first nomination only came in 2011, and the group was passed over.

The Wilson sisters were apparently none too happy at the time, but Nancy Wilson seemed forgiving but not forgetting about recent developments.

“We were kind of like 'Wow, really?' ” she said of getting the news.

“For so long we felt we're the fat chicks at the dance. 'We're weird.' 'We're not even from L.A. or New York.' ” Their fans were getting even more irate, Wilson observed.

Still, she texted “Yeahhhhh” to a Seattle reporter when she got the news. “We are (in) indeed!” was Ann Wilson's response. “Hearty congrats all around.”

A few hours earlier the sisters had been in what Nancy Wilson described as “a very heavy room.” Besides the surviving original Led Zeppelin band members, there were there were the other Kennedy Center honorees that night (Buddy Guy, Dustin Hoffman, David Letterman and Natalia Makarova), along with President and Michelle Obama.

In preparation, there had been “not a very good rehearsal,” Wilson said. Then the sisters had dashed off to an engagement in Florida, returning to Washington, D.C., in time for a final dress rehearsal.

Soon it was time to take the stairway to the stage.

“It was a wing and a prayer, but when it came down to the moment, me and Ann looked at each other.” They knew they had something — once again.